Famous Finds
The Strawn-Wagner Diamond |
The Strawn-Wagner Diamond
Usually on permanent display at Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds State Park, where it was discovered, the "Strawn-Wagner Diamond" is unavailable for viewing during 2009 while the park visitor center is undergoing renovation. This gem is the most perfect diamond the American Gem Society (AGS) ever certified. Graded the perfect grade of O/O/O (Ideal cut/D color/ Flawless), or "Triple Zero," it is the highest grade a diamond can achieve. This is the most perfect a cut diamond can be. A diamond this perfect is so rare than most jewelers and gemologists will never see one during their entire career.
Found at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in 1990 by Shirley Strawn of Murfreesboro, Arkansas, this diamond weighed 3.03 carats in the rough. In 1997, under the recommendation of Bill Underwood, Arkansas's first certified gemologist, the gem was sent to Lazare Kaplan International of New York for cutting. Lazare Kaplan cut the gem to perfection into a 1.09-carat, round brilliant shape diamond featuring an "Ideal Cut." This cut allows for the maximum amount of light to be reflected from one facet to another and up through the top.
The Strawn-Wagner Diamond |
In 1998, the AGS certified this diamond. A diamond this perfect, and weighing over a carat after cutting, is estimated to occur one time in a billion. Its occurrence is even more rare coming from a non-commercial diamond mine.
Underwood's Fine Jewelers of Fayetteville, Arkansas, handcrafted the mounting of pure platinum and pure 24-karat gold to be symbolic of Arkansas, The Natural State. The platinum shank has a thin inlay of gold in the middle. Two gold apple blossoms on each side of the crown represent Arkansas's state flower.
Nature formed, and man then transformed this diamond to the perfect one-in-a-billion gem it is today.
The Uncle Sam Diamond
This 40.23-carat, white diamond is the largest diamond ever found in North America. Discovered here in 1924, it was named the Uncle Sam. Legend has it that the diamond was named after it's finder, W.O. Basham, who went by the nickname, "Uncle Sam." Over the years, it was cut twice; the second cutting resulted in a 12.42-carat, emerald-cut gem.
The Kahn Canary Diamond
The 4.25-carat Kahn Canary was worn by First Lady Hillary Clinton at her husband's Presidential Inaugural galas in 1993 and 1997 as a special, unique way to represent Arkansas. The diamond's owner, Stan Kahn of Pine Bluff, Arkansas, loaned the diamond to Mrs. Clinton.
Nature formed this diamond into a perfect dodecahedral, pillow shape, and gave it a vibrant yellow color, called "canary" in the diamond industry. Left uncut because of its flawless natural beauty, this stunning diamond captivates its viewers in its raw form-just the way the forces of heat and pressure created it.
The Kahn Canary diamond is often on temporary display at prestigious museums and diamond and jewelry exhibitions around the world.
George Stepp, a logger from Carthage, Arkansas, discovered this splendid stone at Crater of Diamonds State Park in 1977, and Mr. Kahn later purchased the diamond from him.
The Amarillo Starlight Diamond
This 16.37-carat white gem is the largest diamond ever unearthed by a park visitor following the Crater's establishment as a state park in 1972. W. W. Johnson of Amarillo, Texas found this impressive diamond in 1975 while vacationing here with his family. The diamond was cut into a 7.54-carat marquise shape.
| NAME | YEAR FOUND | ROUGH WEIGHT | CUT WEIGHT | COLOR |
|---|
| "Uncle Sam" | 1924 | 40.23 carats | 12.42 carats | white |
| "Amarillo Starlight" | 1975 | 16.37 carats | 7.54 carats | white |
| "Star of Arkansas" | 1956 | 15.33 carats | 8.27 carats | white |
| "Star of Shreveport" | 1981 | 8.82 carats | uncut | white |
| Lamle diamond | 1978 | 8.61 carats | | brown |
| Connell diamond | 1986 | 7.95 carats | | white |
| Dickinson/Stevens diamond | 1998 | 7.28 carats | uncut | yellow |
| Cooper diamond | 1997 | 6.72 carats | uncut | brown |
| "Gary Moore Diamond" | 1960 | 6.43 carats | uncut | canary |
| Roden Diamond | 2006 | 6.35 carats | uncut | brown |
| Lee diamond | 1988 | 6.30 carats | | white |
| Newman diamond | 1981 | 6.25 carats | | white |
| Fedzora diamond | 1991 | 6.23 carats | | white |
| Stockton diamond | 1981 | 6.20 carats | | white |
| Schall diamond | 1981 | 6.07 carats | | white |
| Cooper diamond | 1997 | 6.00 carats | | brown |
| "Kahn Canary" | 1977 | 4.25 carats | uncut | canary |
| "Strawn-Wagner Diamond" | 1990 | 3.03 carats | 1.09 carats | white |
This list of notable diamonds from the Crater of Diamonds includes all diamonds weighing six carats or more, and the much publicized Strawn-Wagner Diamond, Uncle Sam diamond, Kahn Canary diamond" and Amarillo Starlight diamond.